In Harbin, which has a population of 11 million, the PM2.5
index -- a measure of the concentration of microscopic
particulate matter in the air -- broke 1,000. The World Health
Organization considers any reading of more than 20 to be a cause
for concern, and levels above 300 to be hazardous.

Like so much having to do with China’s economy, this
environmental degradation seems unprecedented. It isn’t. The
disasters in China today are simply the latest in a series of
public-health catastrophes that have accompanied
industrialization elsewhere. In fact, China’s contemporary
pollution problems probably fall short of records first
established in the U.K. and the U.S.

One of the defining features of industrial revolutions past
and present is the shift to fossil fuels such as coal,
particularly in urban centers. Much like contemporary China,
England became an economic powerhouse by relying on cheap coal
to power its factories as well as to heat and illuminate the
cities that would become crucibles of industrial capitalism:
Manchester, Birmingham and above all, London....